With Agile methodology as the buzz work, CRP's (Conference Room Pilot) are more important than ever. CRP's should be planned during each and every phase of the SAP implementation projects. CRP helps SAP implementations to add clarity to each and every team member during each phase of your project. CRP help drive scope elements into build elements in a transparent manner. CRPs help create direction to achieve the desired output leading to better user experience and stakeholder satisfaction.
CRP Demos are scheduled during Analysis (Scope), Design and Build Phases of the project. Plan for at least two CRP's per phase. The CRP session should not be scheduled too early or too late in the project. For a typical project optional timing for the first session would be middle of the phase. This gives sufficient time for the team to work on the tasks.
Scope CRP - In this CRP, you finalize requirements and lock the scope for the requirements and get a sign-off on the project scope. During the first Scope CRP, the business and core team may request for more clarity or give more details on what they are expecting from the requirement. You may have to set up working sessions with small groups and get complete clarity and agreement before your next CRP session. Business Analyst is responsible and accountable for these CRPs.
Design CRP - In this phase, technical and functional team start designing and do the POC (Proof of concept). Basically you are translating the requirement from prior phases into design elements. In this phase you may be mocking up the portal screen look and feel based on the best practices available in the industry or doing a POC for any completely new functionality. These CRP's help your business, your core team members and specifically you to validate that you understood the requirements and translated them into design elements that you business expected. Any suggestion or design changes should be captured and incorporated in your design for the next CRP. You may need few working session with SAP SMEs (Subject Matter Expert) and Business SMEs before the next CRP. Functional Analyst is responsible and accountable for these CRPs.
Build CRP - During this phase your functional and technical team's starts building the application. The goal here is to translate design elements in the prior phase and start building the functionality. In this CRP, you demo the functionality in your development system to your business and core team. Refrain from using screen shots during your CRP. Giving a live demo to the team on the system will help identify any issue and allows team members to offer suggestions leading to better adaptability of the application after Go-Live. Functional Analyst is responsible and accountable for any configuration and enhancements in these CRPs and Technical will be responsible for all the data conversions, interfaces.
*Note - Role and responsibility vary based on size of the project.
